Talia's pov

It's been a week since Darcia left the house. Nicoli told me they had an argument, which is why they were fighting, but he didn't mention why. It must have been something personal. I thought they were going to kill each other. I never saw her as pissed off as she was that day.

Nicoli said it was going to take a while before Darcia calmed down. He told me that when they were living together, they argued every day.

These past few days have made me kind of worry for her. I know she can take care of herself; she's a vampire, but still. I have a weird feeling in my stomach.

"Talia, did you know that our hair is growing super fast?" Nicoli told me. We were in the kitchen. Nicoli made lunch for me while I was sitting on the kitchen counter, trying to learn how to cook.

"So, your hair will grow even when you shave it off?" I asked. Nicoli turned to me from the stove while holding a wooden spoon in his hand. "Yes, they will all grow back in a few days." He declared. His hair was tied up in a low ponytail. As I was looking at them and admiring them, something possessed me to touch them. I always wanted to feel his hair.

I carefully grabbed them in my hand and slowly went through them. They were soft and shiny. My hair compared to his is like a bird's nest. Maybe I do envy one thing about vampires.

"You like my hair?" Nicoli wondered, then quietly giggled. I stayed quiet because of the embarrassment. Touching a vampire's hair as a human is ridiculous. But what could I lose? If he wanted to kill me, he would. He had plenty of time to do so.

"Now you put a little salt on the meat, and you're done." He explained while grabbing the salt in between his finger tips. I enjoyed our cooking time together. I learned so much from him in such a short time.

"Thank you for making lunch for me." I suddenly said, looking into his eyes. He grabbed the plate with the meal and took it to the dining table. He undressed his apron off and went back to me.

"You know, you shouldn't be thanking me." He sassed and gave me a quick smile. I jumped off the table and sat behind the dining table. The meat looked cooked just right. As much as I was hungry, my thoughts went back to Darcia. I remembered the first time she gave me a pizza and sat across from me. I picked up the fork and a knife and cut a small piece of the meat, putting it inside my mouth.

Nicoli sat down at the dining table too and untied his snowy hair. I took another bite and put the fork and knife down. "I know this is a strange request, but Darcia took my phone, and I'd like to talk with my friend again." I unsurely asked, hoping he'd agree.

He rested his head on his fists and sighed very loudly. "I, unfortunately, cannot do that. I don't have a phone, and I have no idea where Darcia put yours," he answered. I nodded and got back to eating. I knew there was a small chance I'd talk with Stacey. It's been a long time since I heard her voice, and, oh god, I miss it.

Several hours have passed. It was almost night. I spent the whole day chatting with Nicoli since there was nothing better to do. Unlike Darcia, Nicoli is someone you can have a normal conversation with. Even though he's a vampire, he still understood my problems.

He was pretty entertaining to listen to. His stories about his old life made me question how bad my life was compared to his. I've always had a roof over my head, and my friend. But he was mostly alone until he met Darcia.

It was around seven o'clock when I decided to clean Darcia's room. I had nothing better to do. My mind was still somewhere, and I needed to focus on something else.

I first folded my clothes and put them in the closet. I cleaned the furniture of unnecessary dust, then I looked at the messy drawing table that needed to be cleaned.

I tried not to touch her belongings, but the table was too messy to look at. I took the sketches in my hands and tried to sort them out so they would be straight.

One of them fell from my hands, so I crunched down and carefully grabbed it. The sketch of this girl reminded me of someone. A girl sitting on the bench, looking kind of confused.

After a few long seconds, I realized it was me. It was the day I thought I saw someone in the garden. I was so scared I was being followed, and I was right after all.

I blinked a few times to stop myself from crying and put the sketch between the others. I took a few mugs that were rotting on my nightstand and went downstairs to wash them. As I was going down the stairs, I looked out the window and saw another storm coming our way. I sighed and continued walking.

I properly washed the dishes and was ready to go back upstairs when I heard a strange noise coming out of the room in the hall. I never entered those rooms, simply because Darcia never talked about them. My curiosity isn't that strong to try to look inside and get Darcia mad at me.

Even though it could be Nicoli doing something there, I felt something pulling me in that direction. Maybe my intuition or whatever.

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I quietly moved towards the door. I tried to listen by putting my head on the door if I heard what was going on inside. A weird rumble was all I could hear.

I put my hand on the door handle, taking deep breaths in and out. How badly I wish I wouldn't have opened the fucking door. To let my curiosity be buried. To erase my memory of what I witnessed.

When I opened the door, I saw blood all over the floor, flowing towards me. As my eyes slowly shifted up from the floor, I couldn't believe what I just saw. A man in his forties lying motionless on the ground, being captured by Darcia's fangs, sank in his throat.

The man looked lifeless. His eyes were still open, but there was no life behind them. Darcia's mouth was sucked onto his neck like a tick that had no intention of being pulled out.

I stayed frozen, my jaw dropped, and my eyes were wide open. A weird, cold breeze flowed through me because the window was open. My unbelievably fast heartbeat made my chest hurt. I still held the handle, trying to stay on my feet and not fall from the shock.

Darcia slowly pulled her head from his neck, quickly turning at me. Her crimson-red eyes were piercing mine. Blood was all over her mouth and clothes. It was not the Darcia I knew. Her eyes were empty, with no emotion in them. Empty, like her cruel heart.

She suddenly stood up, heading towards me. I let go of the handle and slowly walked backward, holding eye contact with her. I could feel my legs shaking, almost unable to walk. I had flashbacks in front of my eyes. I remembered when she first attacked me in the same way. Looking at me with those bloody, dead eyes, focusing only on my blood.

I reached the staircase. I had nowhere to go. I was trapped. She was only a few meters from me. This time, I was sure she wouldn't let me live. Those eyes had no intention of mercy. I tried to open my mouth and scream for help, but I couldn't move my tongue. Every part of my body was stiff.

I saw death in front of me. She was my death.

Darcia snatched my neck, choking me so hard I had no chance of breathing. The light I once saw in those eyes is no longer there. With no emotion on her face, she kept choking me, and my vision was getting blurry.

It felt like hours had passed when, in fact, it all lasted a few minutes. Minutes of eternal hell.

A strong hand pushed me hard under the staircase. I tried to take a breath, but I couldn't stop coughing. I touched my painful neck, reminding myself that her hand was no longer there.

"Talia- go!" Nicoli screamed at me while he was holding her to the wall. With all my strength left, I stood up and ran into the kitchen. Darcia's hands were still reaching for me, even though I was far away.

I sat down on the ground near the kitchen counter, hoping she would not escape from him. I tried to calm myself down by slowly inhaling and exhaling, but that didn't work. The thought of Darcia barging in here and tearing me apart made my breathing faster again. I hugged myself desperately, trying to not lose my mind. Tears ran down my cheeks as I heard Darcia's voice yelling.

Excruciating pain. An unstoppably fast heartbeat. Tears that couldn't stop flowing.

All my life, I was never lucky. When Darcia adopted me, I thought for a short second that maybe this time it would work. Good things never happened to me. I somehow accepted my fate of staying with a vampire. There was nothing much I could do to escape from here. When I started to think that maybe she could understand me, it all got ruined.

After half an hour, Nicoli came into the kitchen. He explained that he tied up Darcia. He said it was necessary. He locked her in the basement, where there are no windows to escape from.

It took a lot of convincing to get me off the ground. I still couldn't recall what had just happened. I somehow let him take my hand. He pulled me up and took me to my room.

"I'll stay with you for now," he announced as he helped me lay down on the bed. I pulled the cover over me because I was slightly shaking.

"Does your neck hurt much?" Nicoli asked. I touched my sore neck and let out a short squeak.

"That means yes," he assured himself. He slowly tilted my chin to look at my neck. After a few seconds of studying it, he got up and speed-ran somewhere. He came back with an ice bag and applied it carefully to my neck. I whispered a thank you and closed my eyes for a moment. The cold made me a little bit relaxed.

"I-I have no way to excuse what Darcia did today. To be honest with you, I don't want to see you hurt, and I'm sure Darcia didn't mean to attack you. The blood blinded her mind. She had too much of it and lost control completely," he explained.

I opened my eyes and moved the ice bag on my forehead. He said he wouldn't excuse her behavior, but he still did. Is he expecting me to forgive her because she lost control? After what happened, I'm sure she meant to do it, and this time it felt different. With much more hatred. Her crimson-red eyes are haunting me in my head.

"Can we p-please not talk about it right now?" I demanded with a shaky voice. Nicoli sat down on the bed. His sharp, icy eyes looked at me with so much pain and guilt.

This past week, we got close to each other. I thought I couldn't find a friend for myself, but I did. A vampire friend who did not try to eat me. Well, not entirely.

Why's he looking at me that way, like he was the one who caused all of this?

If she wouldn't adopt me, we would all have a peaceful life. If Mr. Elwood didn't let her take me away, I would still be with my precious Stacey. If I had a normal family, I wouldn't need to go through all of this deep shit.

"When are you going to release her?" I asked him. He sighed and moved a few strands of my hair from my face. He was always gentle with me; even his hand felt extremely soft. You would think that a vampire's hands are rough, but not his.

"She'll stay there for a few days. I'll try to talk to her. I'm sure she's back to her old self." He replied and got up.

"Wait! You're going now?" I almost screamed at him. He stopped walking and turned to me.

"Yes, I'm not going to stay for long, don't worry." He assured me, and quickly smiled as he closed the door behind him.

***

"Darcia..."

"I hope you realize what a big mistake you have made today."